The Spiel

Ted Alspach chats about Favor of the Pharaoh, an Egyptian themed reboot of Tom Lehmann's engine building dice game To Court The King. We also discuss One Night Ultimate Vampire, the latest title in the family of fast playing social deduction games.

Matt Hyra leads the in-house design team at Cryptozoic. He chats about the different challenges designers face when developing a games tied to movies like Ghostbusters, video games like Portal and hundreds of comic book characters from the DC universe.

Designer and art director Isaac Vega chats about business and games. We discuss F2Z's recent acquisition of Plaid Hat Games and what this means to the company. We also discuss Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, an expandable fantasy battle card and dice game

Travis Chance and Nick Little chat about Ninja Camp, a family game about misfit animals training to become masked fighters. We also discuss an expansion for Heroes Wanted and Scoundrel Society, a card game about con men going after the same mark.

Sen-Foong Lim and Jay Cormier chat about the Game Artisans of Canada, a guild of designers across the country that workshop each others' games. They also discuss how they collaborate on games despite living thousands of miles apart.

Expert. Connoiseur. Strategy. The Kennerspiel des Jahres has something of a split personality The central idea is an award for the best "gamer's game" of the year. We review Orleans, Elysium and Broom Service, then predict this year's winner.

There can be only one... Game of the Year, that is. We review the final nominee, The Game, a cooperative card game where table talk (of a sort) is allowed. Then we weigh all three nominees against the jury's criteria and try to predict the winner.

For kids. And kids at heart. We review Spinderella, Treasure Trouble and Push-a-Monster, the three nominees for the Kinderspiel des Jahres, the best Children's Game of the Year, and try to predict the winner.

The Spiel des Jahres is Germany's Game of the Year. It's an award for the best family game. And it is the most prestigious award in the board game world. In Pt. 1 we review Machi Koro and Colt Express to see how they stack up against the jury's criteria.

That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde. We delve into the history and literary legacy of one of England's most famous cities by exploring 2 games: Canterbury and The Road to Canterbury. In one we are Saxon lords building the city district by district. In the other we are pardoners accompanying Chaucer's pilgrims, tempting them into sins which only we can absolve... for a price.

Hold the croutons. Designer Stefan Feld gives you all the ingredients for a "point salad" in his games. The fun comes from creating the best mix every time you play. We explore Feld's 10 year career and review his latest two games: La Isla and Aquasphere.

Blood, sweat & gears. We review Kanban & Factory Fun, two very challenging games with an industrial theme. Kanban is a many-layered simulation of an auto assembly line. Factory fun is a puzzle where players are rewarded for making convoluted machines.

Roll over Picasso. We review Waggle Dance, Praetor and Dice Brewing. Each game uses dice in a fun, creative way: to make honey, to build Hadrian's wall and to make beer.

Back in the day... We review Murano and Royals, two new titles that call back to the first generation of "euros" that sparked the Renaissance in modern board games.

Code monkeys. We explore 3 games in the programmed movement genre. Robot Turtles teaches programming skills to toddlers. Colt Express pits bandits against each other on a cardboard train. Empire Engine is a steampunk micro-game that uses cards as gears.

Heile recommended. Join us for a virtual cocktail party to celebrate the season. We bounce through a variety of geek related round table topics, play some silly games, listen to some bad jokes and laugh. A lot.

Wordly wiser. We explore two word games with a modern twist. Paperback is a deckbuilding game where players build words to complete pulp novels. Typo 2D is a tile laying game where players build word fragments in a grid.

Backpack booty. From pill bugs and puzzles to a dice rodeo, we review half a dozen games small enough to travel but big enough to provide hours of fun. Titles include: Samsara, Assel Schlamassel, El Gaucho., Romans Go Home, Col-Or-Form and Diamonds.

We conclude our Essen coverage with our impressions of the 2014 game fair and give a general accounting of our grand European adventure.

Wolf Wittenstein chats about Grog Island, a dice driven auction game about retired pirates investing their loot in new ventures, like peg-leg shops and pubs. We also learn about the new Port expansion for Village.